New Words For Soft Hearts
by Fiercest
Summary: Sasuke wants to be Sakura's boyfriend. Sakura... was under the impression that they were already dating.


_New Words For Soft Hearts_

Summary: Sasuke wants to be Sakura's boyfriend. Sakura... was under the impression that they were already dating. There's a language barrier.

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Nerve has never been something Sasuke lacked, but any man would quake in the face of Haruno Sakura. And her thick, ropey biceps. And quads that could crush a melon. And pretty green eyes and-

He clears his throat and swallows.

She does this thing where she hates the heat but refuses to spend money on air conditioning. Instead, she wears next to nothing and throws herself across the length of the couch, with a cool towel around her neck. Even though it makes her crazy, she gets annoyed when he sits anywhere but right beside her, or as the case is today, beneath her. He taps on the thigh spread across his lap and grumbles. "I thought you were hot."

"What's your point?" she moans.

"Body heat probably won't help." The sticky feeling of their mingling sweat is uncomfortable but not as uncomfortable as the prospect of not touching her. Still, he feels guilty.

"I don't mind, I'm glad you're here." She peeks out from beneath the cool towel and reaches out to caress his cheek. Sakura can be all hard lines and fire and fury, but her touch is the gentlest peace he's ever known.

And it all bubbles to the surface, the need to solidify something between them. Sasuke likes order. He likes to have all the facts so he can make a plan. More and more every day, he wants to consider the future, but can't. Not with everything so uncertain with her. "I have something I've been meaning to ask you."

Sakura hums, too lethargic to mark anything in his tone.

"I want to be your boyfriend." It does not come out as a question. Maybe that's for the best. Sakura gives and gives until the well runs dry, but then she just digs deeper. Sakura would do anything he asks, so it's good that he tells her what he wants. It implies an exchange. She should tell him what she wants.

He doesn't realize that he expected excitement until he doesn't get it. She sits up suddenly, towel falling away, legs retracting out of his hands and towards her chest. She stares at him, (and how can she be surprised after everything?) dumbfounded and a little angry and a little sad. Then, in a small voice, "You're… not already my boyfriend?"

He chokes and says the absolutely wrong thing. "No."

"Oh…" she bites her lip and refuses to meet his eyes. She concentrates on a spot on the floor, brow furrowed like she's working through a problem. "But we spend all our time together?"

"We also spend all our time with Naruto," he points out.

"We've had sex," she's willing him to get a clue and he knows that; it makes him go on the defensive.

Sasuke shrugs, "You've had sex with lots of people." How was he supposed to figure it out from that?

Sakura finds another inch to move away, she looks as if he's slapped her. "Oh… I see."

Sasuke can see how maybe that was a mistake, "Not that—" deep breath, "I just mean that it doesn't make me any different, I'm not," he pinches the bridge of his nose, fighting off the oncoming headache, "_Judging you_. You can have sex with whoever you want."

"Because you're not my boyfriend."

"No!" Wrong idea. Wrong idea. Wrong idea!

"No, I can't sleep with other people or no, you're not my boyfriend?"

Sasuke would really like to go back to five minutes ago when his primary discomfort was physical.

"Yes. No. The first but not the second. Sakura-"

He looks at her and she's not teasing. Her lips twist and press together, her cheeks dimple with the effort. Her misty eyes dart around the room and refuse to land on him. "I told you I love you," she says quietly and it makes his heart hurt.

Verbal affection never lands with Sasuke. Everyone who ever claimed to love him hurt him. His parents built his life on a crumbling and unsteady foundation, his brother traumatized him. Sakura told him she loved him as she was about to plunge a knife into his heart. Anyone could say they loved someone. Sasuke prefers to show it. He fights for his loved ones. He fights with them. He spends all the time he can in their presence. He touches them. Sex is not meaningless to him, it is a connection he can't have with anyone else.

But Sakura's love language is different. Sakura is a physical person, who touches to heal and to save. Her affection is doled out in confetti, spreading everywhere. Sakura uses her words to express everything inside of her heart. She lets them know with certainty, where they belong. He was trying to speak her language, and she was trying to speak his.

Sasuke could not hear her, but he's listening now.

She's made an effort to speak in his language; of touches and time. She has adapted to him as best she can. Which is why he didn't know. He was watching for her signs and missed the big ones. He thought there would be a conversation, but Sakura already knew exactly what they were and in his quest for affirmation, he has hurt her.

"I'm sorry," he says, which is absolutely the wrong thing to say, but Sakura sighs anyway. She shrugs off the hurt and makes eye contact with his forehead instead of his eyes. It hurts it hurts _it hurts._

"Don't worry about it," because Sakura is always sweeping away her own aches.

And he cannot let her do that with him. "I love you." He's never said it before, but it feels right now. She needs the words now. Deeds are not enough.

Her knees fall outward, she uncurls from her ball and stares at her lap. "Thank you."

They've come full circle.

"I'm sorry I didn't know I was your boyfriend."

Sakura sniffs, "We never talked about it, you don't have to apologize."

"I do," Sasuke grabs her hands so she'll stop tying knots out of her fingers. "I felt like your boyfriend but I didn't want to presume. I didn't mean to make you feel like this is less than it is."

Sakura's whole body relaxes, bowing toward him like a flower towards the sun. Their foreheads meet and Sasuke can stop holding his breath. "It's just a word. You're more than that anyway."

He feels that. Feels it in his bones and in his soul—the reach of her heart to his. The way they both learn a new language for the other.

"We'll find some new words soon."


End file.
